


Lion Tamers

by MirrorMystic



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Camping, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon, Pre-OT3, Pre-Relationship, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-28 21:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16249937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorMystic/pseuds/MirrorMystic
Summary: There was a time when Ann, Ryuji, and Shiho were inseparable; thick as thieves. Then Suguru Kamoshida’s scandal tore them apart. Now, the infamy of the Phantom Thieves has come and gone, and three friends see if they can pick up where they left off- and if they can stick together, rain or shine.





	Lion Tamers

**Author's Note:**

> As featured in The Crimson Compendium, my very first Persona 5 fanzine, alongside art by the incomparable yormgen. 
> 
> Long-time fans who've read "Tailwind" will know that I've always thought of Shiho being the Strength Confidant we never had. As it happens, Strength and The Chariot's classic Tarot imagery both involve lions: the man at the reins being able to harness a pair of lions to pull his chariot towards his goal; and a woman, capable of taming a lion with little more than a touch. 
> 
> As for where Ann fits into this, well, I'll let her mane speak for itself. I hope you all enjoy the read! ^^

~*~  
  
Shiho stood, alone, on her porch, gazing out into the fog. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the breeze in her hair. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, jolting her out of her morning melancholy.   
  
**_[08:14]_** **_Ryuji_** _: GPS says we’re five minutes away. You excited? =D_  
  
Shiho pursed her lips, typing out a response.   
  
**_[08:14]_** **_Shiho_** _: I’m a little nervous._ _  
_**_[08:15] Ryuji_** _: You know, this trip’s been all she can talk about for weeks._ _  
_**_[08:15] Shiho_** _: I know._ _  
_**_[08:15]_** **_Shiho_** _: I just want today to be perfect._ _  
_**_[08:16]_** **_Ryuji_** _: It will be._  
  
Shiho smiled. She could already see Ryuji’s jocular, daring grin.   
  
**_[08:16]_** **_Shiho_** _: Oh, yes? What makes you so sure?_ _  
_**_[08:17]_** **_Ryuji_** _: Look up at the sky._  
  
Shiho looked up- and was rewarded with a gorgeous view of the sunrise blooming above the trees, the morning fog vanishing into a painterly swirl of pinks, reds, and golds.   
  
Shiho took a deep breath and let out a satisfied sigh. She checked the time on her phone, before clutching her phone to her heart.   
  
_Soon_ , she thought to herself.   
  
_Soon…_ _  
_  
Shiho clutched the railing as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. She watched the road in front of her house, her placid exterior belying an ocean of roiling nerves. Anxiety buzzed through her whole body, perched precariously on that boundary between excitement and worry, never knowing which way to fall.   
  
So long. She’d waited so long, and now that it was here, she didn’t know what to feel.   
  
Then Ann arrived on her doorstep, and none of that mattered at all.   
  
Last summer, before the move, Shiho and Ann promised each other that they’d stay in touch.   
  
Shiho never knew just how literally she needed that to be true- until the moment Ann burst through the foggy morning like the sun through the clouds.   
  
Shiho could scarcely even make it down the porch steps. Ann flung her car door shut, bounded up the walkway in three long strides, and _pounced_ \- and just like that, they were kids again, tangled up in each others’ arms, laughing, crying, and savoring the warmth and closeness that they’d gone without for so long.   
  
They broke apart just for a moment, Ann stepping back to really take Shiho in. She looked so different. It’s not like Shiho could have gotten that much taller, or her hair grown much longer, in just one year. But the look on Shiho’s face- radiant, warm- was miles away from the ghost of herself she was when she’d left Tokyo.   
  
Ann trailed her fingers up through Shiho’s hair, lingering on her cheek. Her eyes were wet, but she was smiling bright. Ann let out a gasp that was practically a sob, and pulled Shiho back into a tight embrace. Shiho tucked her chin over Ann’s shoulder and they stood there, swaying.   
  
Shiho smiled. Always so dramatic. From Ann’s theatrics, you’d think Shiho had come back from the dead.   
  
In a way, maybe she had.   
  
“She’s never that happy to see _me_ ,” came a voice from nearby.   
  
Shiho poked her head through Ann’s wild blonde mane and saw Ryuji standing in her driveway, a wide, teasing grin on his lips.   
  
Ann rolled her eyes, glancing back as she and Shiho reluctantly parted. “We see each other, like, every day.”  
  
“To my envy,” Shiho said softly. She smiled.   
  
Ryuji bounded up to Shiho’s porch, grinning.   
  
“Hey, buddy,” Ryuji said, hesitating on the steps. “Can I, uh…”  
  
Shiho nodded, and let Ryuji draw her into a hug. She leaned into him and sighed, content.   
  
“Oh,” Shiho said abruptly, blinking. She prodded at Ryuji’s arms. “...Have you been working out?”  
  
“That’s all he ever does,” Ann teased, a hand on her hip. “Wonder who he’s trying to impress.”  
  
“To think,” Shiho chimed in, “all the way out in the countryside, and I still get a visit from Shujin’s two hot blondes.”  
  
“Okay, okay, don’t make it weird,” Ryuji said. He rolled his eyes and playfully shoved Shiho away, back into Ann’s waiting arms.   
  
There was a backpack sitting on the porch, leaning against the rail. Ryuji nudged it with his foot.   
  
“Is this everything, Shiho? You want me to carry it?”  
  
“Oh- no, I’ve got it,” Shiho demurred.   
  
“Alright, then!” Ryuji clapped his hands together, eager, while Shiho hoisted her pack onto her shoulders. “Let’s get this show on the road!”  
  
~*~  
  
“You didn’t have to drive all this way just for me,” Shiho was saying. The countryside zipped past her window, street signs becoming fence posts, fences becoming trees.   
  
“We kinda did,” Ann said, beside her, sharing the backseat. “Last time, you came all the way to Tokyo. It’s only fair.”  
  
“Also, I don’t think we could’ve brought all our camping stuff on the train,” Ryuji offered.   
  
Ann shrugged. “That, too.”  
  
On the seat between them, Shiho inched her hand towards Ann’s until their pinkies were touching. Their eyes met for a moment, before Ann tugged her hand closer and laced their fingers together, without any fuss.   
  
“I’m surprised your parents let you take the car,” Shiho said.   
  
“They’re still abroad,” Ann said, and shrugged. “It’s not like they were using it.”  
  
“Still?” Shiho wondered. “It seems like, whenever I ask, your parents are off in Paris, or Milan…”  
  
“It’s ‘cuz Ann’s _rich_ ,” Ryuji teased.   
  
“I’m not _rich_ ,” Ann rolled her eyes. “My _parents_ are rich. They just let me borrow their stuff. _Akira_ ’s rich. I don’t even know where he gets all his money.”  
  
“Maybe he sells drugs,” Ryuji said, deadpan.   
  
“Shut up,” Ann teased.   
  
“That makes him a small business owner,” Shiho said, giggling. “Good for him.”  
  
The road ended, and the trail began. The sun vanished behind the canopy of the woods, and a blanket of fog, clinging to the cool ground, oozed out from between the trees.   
  
They pulled into an all-but-empty parking lot, gravel crunching under their tires. Ann gave Shiho’s hand one last squeeze before she and Ryuji went rifling through the trunk. Shiho stood, gazing out at the trees, melancholy drifting across her senses like fog along the ground.  
  
An elbow bumped against hers. Shiho looked up, and saw Ryuji holding up his phone.   
  
“Smile, Shiho!” he grinned.   
  
Shiho smiled shyly, holding up a peace sign.   
  
“...Did… did you get it…?” Shiho wondered.   
  
“Oh, uh, actually, I’m filming this.”  
  
“Oh, Ryuji...!” Shiho huffed, embarrassed, shrinking away. Ann came up behind Ryuji and thumped him on the head.   
  
“Ow! Hey!” Ryuji muttered. “I told Akira I’d make him a highlight reel because he couldn’t be here in person. Shiho’s a highlight!”  
  
“Just out of curiosity,” Shiho began, slinging her pack over her shoulders, “have either of you actually gone camping before?”  
  
“Nope!” Ryuji chimed, grinning. “We’re city slickers, through and through.”  
  
“Yeah,” Ann offered. “If it weren’t for the internet, we wouldn’t have ever heard about this place.”  
  
“Which means _you_ get to be the expert, Shiho,” Ryuji said.   
  
“I’m hardly an _expert_ ,” Shiho said, giggling. “What, did you think a year away from the city would have made me some hardcore survivalist?”  
  
“You could have your own TV show!” Ann cut in.   
  
“ _I’d_ watch it,” Ryuji grinned.   
  
“No…” Shiho smiled. “All I have is this pocket wilderness survival guide I picked up last week for a thousand yen. That, and the best company a girl could ask for.”  
  
A warm moment bloomed between the three of them, like the first flower poking through the snow, or the first sunlight through the fog. They set off down the trail, Ryuji in the lead, Ann by Shiho’s side.   
  
Shiho took in the crisp morning air and breathed out a contented sigh.   
  
It was like she’d never left.   
  
~*~ _  
__  
_ “So, we’re like an hour into this, and already, the view looks great,” Ann said, her phone bobbing in time with her every step. “The sky looks great, the woods look great, _I_ look great…”  
  
Ann flipped her phone around and flashed the camera a winning smile. Ryuji snorted beside her.   
  
“The sun started to come out a little bit ago,” Ann continued, “and since then, these woods turned _very_ beautiful, _very_ quickly.”  
  
“It’s just like you, freshman year,” Ryuji offered.  
  
Ann made a face. “ _Thanks_ , Ryuji. I don’t know whether to hug you or hit you.”  
  
Ryuji snickered. “Yeah, that sounds like us.”  
  
Ann just rolled her eyes, smiling.  
  
“I’m glad you two are getting along,” Shiho mused, peeking over the top of her pocket survival guide. “After… what happened.”  
  
“Yeah…” Ryuji said, wistful. He bumped against Ann, casually, like a puppy would. “Y’know, at the beginning of last year, we weren’t even doing first names anymore.”  
  
“Look at you now,” Shiho says.   
  
Ann shrugged, bumping an elbow against Ryuji’s. “It was a busy year.”  
  
The sun crested the trees. Golden light spilled across the trio, lifting the fog and the uneasy quiet, filling the woods with a sense of fairy-tale grandeur.   
  
It was absolutely gorgeous out. Unfortunately, Shiho had been expecting the fog and cloudy weather to persist all day. Now, an aura of oppressive heat was gathering in her long, dark hair.   
  
Shiho exhaled, drawing a sleeve across her brow.   
  
“It’s, um… it’s getting pretty hot,” Shiho murmured as they walked.   
  
“Sorry,” Ryuji grinned. He stretched, his favorite muscle tank proudly showing off his arms. “Must be me.”  
  
Ann rolled her eyes.   
  
“Shiho, if you’re too warm, take off your hoodie.”  
  
“Aww,” Shiho protested, slipping her hands into her pockets. Her sweater gleamed in the sunlight, a familiar pure white with a four-leaf clover on the hem. “But it’s my _favorite_.”  
  
Ann beamed. She looped an arm around Shiho’s and squeezed.   
  
They heard the sound of rushing water, and Ryuji calling out to them from up ahead. They hiked through a stand of trees and emerged on a rocky ledge overlooking a river and a waterfall. The view was spectacular. Ryuji already had his phone out, capturing the moment for posterity.   
  
“Look at this place, man,” Ryuji grinned, panning the camera around. “We fuckin’ made it! We’re here! Woop woop!”  
  
“Well, we’re _almost_ there,” Shiho said gently. “The campsite’s just across the river.”  
  
“Alright, then!” Ryuji pocketed his phone and clapped his hands together, eager. “Let’s do this!”  
  
“Whoa, whoa, wait a second, Ryuji,” Ann called out. “I don’t like the look of that bridge.”  
  
The ledge they were standing on was higher than the opposite riverbank. The only apparent way across was a rope bridge of dubious craftsmanship, sloping down from their ledge to the meadow below. The wooden boards were dark with moisture, damped down from rain, fog, river spray. Ann went over and gave the rope an appraising tug.   
  
“Uh…” Ann wondered. “How often do they maintain this place?”  
  
“Um, well…” Shiho muttered, looking at her feet. “...I _did_ choose a less popular park, hoping we’d have the place to ourselves. But maybe that means…”  
  
“No no no, it’s fine,” Ryuji insisted, cutting Shiho off before she could veer into self-doubt.   
  
“Is it?” Ann remained skeptical.   
  
“It _is_ ,” Ryuji pressed. “Look, I’ll go first.”  
  
And, as it turned out, it was fine- for the first five or six steps. Then Ryuji slipped on a slick board and fell heavily onto the bridge. The weakened boards gave way with a crack. He cried out, and fell into the river.   
  
“Ryuji!” Ann shrieked.   
  
Ryuji broke the water’s surface like a breaching whale. He slicked his hair back, his clothes sticking to his skin, his waterlogged pack sagging on his shoulders. He stood, waist deep in the water, muttering curses.   
  
“Ryuji…?” Shiho called.   
  
Ryuji took a deep breath, biting back his frustration. He looked up at the girls and flashed them a jocular grin.   
  
“Come on in!” Ryuji called up at them. “The water’s f-fine!”  
  
“Yeah, right…” Ann muttered.   
  
Ryuji broke three boards when he fell, leaving a gap in the bridge. Ann thought, maybe she could have made that jump- but who knew if the boards would hold when she landed. She and Shiho clambered back up the bridge and returned to the ledge. Below them, Ryuji waded through the river and managed to make it to the opposite bank.   
  
“Hey!” Ryuji called up at them. “It’s not actually that deep. You can just walk across! But what are you gonna do about your stuff?”  
  
Shiho hummed thoughtfully, flipping through her survival guide. Their ledge was higher than Ryuji’s riverbank, and the river was shallow enough to wade…  
  
Shiho took off her pack and set it on the ground, rummaging around inside.   
  
“Ryuji!” Shiho called.   
  
“What?” Ryuji looked up. A length of coiled rope hit him in the face.   
  
Ann snorted, despite everything.   
  
“Sorry…” Shiho said sheepishly. “Ryuji, can you tie your end to a tree or something?”  
  
“You got it!”   
  
Shiho looped her end around the trunk of a nearby tree, tying it off and pulling it tight. She took a deep breath, and glanced at Ann.   
  
“Ann?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Take off your clothes.”  
  
Ann gasped in faux-scandal, fanning herself as if she might faint. “Oh, Shiho, this is so sudden…”  
  
“ _Stop_ ,” Shiho shook her head, smiling. “I have a plan. But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”  
  
~*~  
  
Shiho’s plan was straightforward enough: she and Ryuji would tie a line of rope between two trees on either side of the river, and use the line to send Shiho’s and Ann’s backpacks across. After that, Ann and Shiho would carefully climb down from their ledge and use the line to keep themselves steady as they waded to the other side.   
  
That was the plan. In theory.   
  
In practice, Ann wound up sitting on a rock, pouting, in her underwear and boots, her arms stubbornly folded across her chest.   
  
Shiho clicked a carabiner onto her pack and hooked it onto their impromptu zipline. She shoved it off the ledge, and gravity took over, sliding it down into Ryuji’s waiting arms.   
  
“I’m sorry, Ann,” Shiho said, with the barest hint of a playful smile. “I didn’t want our clothes to get wet. Or our phones, either.”  
  
“C’mon, Ann!” Ryuji called from below. “You’ve got nothin’ I haven’t seen before!”  
  
“That’s not the point!” Ann huffed, not budging from her rock. She glanced up at Shiho. “Look, not a lot of people know this about me, but there are two things I hate: I don’t do bugs, and I don’t do water.”  
  
“We’ll be okay,” Shiho said gently. She squeezed Ann’s shoulder. “Look, I’ll even go first.”  
  
Ann sighed begrudgingly. “...Okay…”  
  
Shiho made her way down from the ledge, clutching the zipline above her head. She stared down at the rushing water, took a deep breath, and went in.   
  
The shock of cold water against her legs sent a memory flashing across her eyes- garish, fluorescent light, stinging agony in her legs, sweat dripping down her chin, her fingers clamped around the parallel bars until her knuckles were white…  
  
...and Ann, waiting for her at the end of the physical therapy track, cheering and shouting her name with her hands cupped around her mouth, even though she was barely ten feet away.  
  
Shiho smiled at the memory. She could see it now: Ann, framed in sunlight from the window behind her, flaxen hair shining like a halo, looking for all the world like an angel…  
  
It was _almost_ enough to make Shiho forget that she was fording a freezing river in nothing but her underwear and hiking boots, with little more than a length of rope and Ryuji’s voice to keep her steady.   
  
“Shiho!” Ryuji called out. “I’ve got you, buddy!”  
  
Shiho took Ryuji’s offered hand and gasped in relief as she made it onto dry land, Ryuji whooping and cheering like a puppy beside her. They laughed together, turning and waving to Ann on the far bank.  
  
“You can do it, Ann!” Shiho called. “Piece of cake!”  
  
“I’m gonna _need_ one after this!” Ann said with a grimace. She squirmed, staring down at the water. “Is this a bad time for me to mention that I can’t swim?”  
  
“You don’t _have_ to swim. You just gotta walk!” Ryuji said. “You know all about walking, don’t you?”  
  
“Ryuji’s right, Ann!” Shiho chimed in, clapping her hands together. “Just think of it as a runway! Give me your best model walk!”  
  
Ann looked up. She grabbed the rope, swallowed hard. She took her first shaky step into the water.   
  
“Waaaah!” Ann shrieked. “Fuck! It’s so cold!”  
  
“You can do it, sweetie!” Shiho called.   
  
“Ohhhhhh I don’t like this…” Ann squirmed. She managed to take a few more halting steps. Then a strong, stray current hit her with unexpected force and nearly knocked her legs out from under her.   
  
Ann screeched in surprise, grabbing onto the rope with both hands.   
  
“Ann!” Ryuji cried out in alarm.   
  
“Ann, are you okay?” Shiho pressed.   
  
“No no no, I can’t, I can’t-” Ann wailed, holding onto the rope for dear life.   
  
“You’re almost there,” Shiho said. “Look at me. I’m right here. I’m right here, Ann…”  
  
Ann clung to the rope and shook her head, frightened tears welling in her eyes.   
  
Ryuji touched Shiho’s shoulder. She glanced up at him, and their eyes met. Ryuji stepped forward, clearing his throat.   
  
“Hey, Ann!” Ryuji called, his hands cupped around his mouth. “I never knew you were such a _wimp_!”  
  
“What?!” Ann snapped, her fear morphing into outrage.   
  
“ _Ryuji!_ ” Shiho hissed.   
  
“What, did you come all the way out here just to have Mother Nature kick your ass? The Ann I know wouldn’t let a lame-ass river beat her like this. She wouldn’t let _me_ beat her like this! I crossed the river just fine! _I_ made it look _easy_!”  
  
Ann grit her teeth, murder flashing across her eyes.   
  
“You little shit! I’m gonna make you eat those words!”  
  
“Then do it, you coward!”  
  
Ann stomped across the river while Ryuji stood on the bank, teasing and taunting every step of the way. When she got to the bank, and saw Ryuji reaching out, Ann took his hand and yanked him forward, meeting his eyes with a fierce glare.   
  
They stood there, staring each other down. For a brief, dreadful moment, Shiho thought she might actually hit him.   
  
Ann took a deep breath, and let it out slow.   
  
“...You were really just going to talk shit until I got across that river?”   
  
Ryuji shrugged. “I mean, it worked, didn’t it?”  
  
Ann smiled ruefully and pulled Ryuji into a hug.   
  
“Hate you.”  
  
“Bite me.”  
  
Ann did better than that- she shoved Ryuji back into the water. He laughed in indignation and pulled himself back up, dripping wet. He shook the water from his hair like a dog, his tank top plastered to his skin.   
  
Ann pointedly strode up to Shiho and took her hands, affectionately bumping her head into hers, like a cat. She glanced back at Ryuji, and their eyes met.   
  
“See?” Ryuji asked, flashing them a grin. “That’s more like you.”  
  
~*~  
  
After that morning’s misadventure, the trio had finally arrived. They’d gone over the river and through the woods, and now, it was getting time to make camp.   
  
Shiho sat on a rock and watched, with a certain satisfaction, as a stream of water cascaded out of her waterlogged boots and trickled into the dirt. She set her boots aside and rummaged through her pack. It had made it across the river on the zipline, safe, sound, and dry. She took a moment to shrug on her shirt, shimmy back into her jeans, and pull Ann’s hoodie back on.   
  
Neither of her companions seemed too eager to get dressed. Ann was sunning herself on a rock, decompressing after her stressful river-crossing. She looked about as glamorous as she always did- laying out in the sun, her hair fanned out and gleaming. Ryuji, meanwhile, was laying his clothes out to dry, and picking through his waterlogged pack to see if anything was still salvageable.   
  
“Aww, fuck…” Ryuji muttered, shaking water out of his phone. “I hope Akira managed to save that footage. Damn it. Now I gotta get another fuckin’ phone…”  
  
Shiho swallowed hard. “...I’m sorry,” she said, meekly.   
  
Ryuji looked up, and blew out a sigh. “...It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”  
  
“Well, it’s not yours, either…”  
  
“It doesn’t have to be anybody’s fault,” Ryuji said. “Sometimes, shit just happens. Don’t worry about it.”  
  
Ryuji set his pack aside and went to go join Ann on her rock. He laid back, and Ann shuffled over, unselfconsciously resting her head on Ryuji’s bare chest. Ryuji stretched, laying a hand behind his head, the other coming to rest in Ann’s hair. Ann lifted up her phone and snapped a selfie. They lay there together, in their underwear, basking like a colony of sea lions on a shore  
  
It was all so… casual. So normal. So right.   
  
Shiho felt a tightness in her chest, and a prickle in her eyes. She gasped, her heart swelling with a wordless, overwhelming fondness.   
  
Ryuji sat up, hearing the hitch in Shiho’s throat.   
  
“You okay, buddy?” He asked, his voice soft with concern.   
  
“Yeah, Shiho, what’s up?” Ann asked, her sky-blue eyes glinting in the light.   
  
The sheer, sincere loyalty and affection in their eyes stole Shiho’s breath away. Then again, there was also the fact that her two very blonde and very attractive best friends were both casually lounging around in their underwear only a few feet away…  
  
The swell of warmth in Shiho’s chest took an abrupt turn. She wrenched her eyes away from Ann and Ryuji’s intent, captivating gaze. She yanked her survival guide onto her lap and started flipping through the pages.   
  
“Sorry,” Shiho said, her cheeks turning pink. “I was, um… distracted. ...I’m sorry, I know this trip isn’t starting on the best foot-”  
  
“ _Relax_ ,” Ryuji chided. “Come on. Stop worrying.”  
  
“Yeah, Shiho,” Ann continued. “What do we gotta do next?”  
  
“A-Alright, well,” Shiho cleared her throat, studying her guide. “We need to set up camp, and that means starting with the essentials. Here’s the plan…”  
  
~*~  
  
A contest was inevitable.   
  
Back in middle school, everything became a contest. It was always “I bet you can’t climb that tree”, “I bet you can’t beat me to the bus station”, “I bet you can’t eat all this wasabi”. Every time, Ann and Ryuji would taunt, boast, and dare each other into some sort of misadventure. And every time, Shiho would be trailing just behind, ready to tend to scraped knees, burnt tongues, and bruised egos.   
  
Ryuji always said Shiho was the mom friend. Ann chafed at that phrasing, but Ryuji didn’t see what the problem was. Ryuji loved his mom.   
  
“So, we’ve made a little wager,” Ann said, smirking into her camera. “Shiho says there are four essentials we gotta get if we wanna survive out here, so we’re gonna do best of four. Ryuji thinks he can out-survive me. Ha! I’d like to see him try.”  
  
Ann flipped her phone around, taking in the view.   
  
“Look at this meathead,” she muttered, grinning. “We’re only a few hours into this and he’s already taken his shirt off.”  
  
“Excuse you,” Ryuji cut in, his hands on his hips. “I’m still waiting for my clothes to dry out. Meanwhile, you’re the one going around here like that one painting, what’s it called, blond lady on a seashell…”  
  
“ _The Birth of Venus_?” Shiho offered.   
  
“Yeah, that’s it,” Ryuji said. “What’s your excuse?”  
  
Ann grinned. “You love it.”  
  
“I bet I’m not the only one,” Ryuji said, grinning back.   
  
Ann smiled. She turned, panning her camera around until it settled on Shiho, sitting on the riverbank with her nose in her survival guide.   
  
“Alright, Shiho,” Ann began. “What are we looking for?”  
  
“Food, water, shelter, and fire,” Shiho recited. She glanced up and briefly met Ann’s eyes, before ducking back behind her book, her cheeks pink.   
  
:”What’s with you, Shiho?” Ann teased. “You’re so blushy today!”  
  
Shiho rolled her eyes.   
  
“So, are either of you going to put your clothes back on, or are you just going to stand around in your underwear?” Shiho asked. “It’s _very_ distracting.”  
  
Ann just leaned one elbow on Ryuji’s shoulder and the two of them grinned knowingly at Shiho. Shiho shook her head and smiled. She reached down beside her and pulled the trio’s water bottles out of the river. She dropped a water purification tablet into each one, capped them, and gave them a shake, before setting the bottles aside.   
  
“Those should be safe to drink in half an hour,” Shiho said.   
  
“Well, that wasn’t too hard,” Ann said.   
  
“We just happened to make camp right next to a river,” Shiho smiled. “First one’s free.”  
  
“I found the river, so I’m just gonna call water my win,” Ryuji chimed in.   
  
“Oh for- Like hell you are!” Ann huffed. “You didn’t find it, you fell in it!”  
  
“I did both!”  
  
“Guys, guys,” Shiho said peaceably. “We’re only one down. We still need to make a shelter, find food, and build a fire.”  
  
“Alright, I’m calling the bet!” Ryuji crowed. “I bet I can get all three of those done better and faster than Ann can!”  
  
“Oh, try me, punk! Bet money!”  
  
“O-ho! Oh! That’s how you wanna play this?!”  
  
Ryuji tossed Ann her pocketbook and started rummaging through his own wallet. They stopped short, awkwardly glancing at each other.   
  
“...Uh… I don’t have any cash.”  
  
“...Me either.”  
  
A pause.   
  
“...Whatever!” Ryuji pressed. “So maybe this bet’ll be the kind that’s its own reward. One of us will get the satisfaction of being a winner, while the loser will get their ass kicked by Mother Nature.”  
  
“You’re so on, Ryuji!” Ann cried. “I’ll survive way better than you, and I’ll get it all on camera so I can rub it in your face. I’ll kick Mother Nature’s ass. I’ll kick _your_ ass! _I’ll kick your mom’s ass!_ ”  
  
_“You leave my mom outta this!”_  
  
~*~  
  
They split up- Ryuji sticking with Shiho, while Ann ventured off alone. The first step of putting together a shelter, Shiho diligently read from her survival guide, was getting the materials.  
  
“We’re going to need wood,” Shiho said, as they walked along the riverside. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find, out here in the, uh, woods.”  
  
“How big do they gotta be?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Arms’ length, maybe?” Shiho offered. “Anything smaller, we can still use for firewood. But we’ll need at least one large branch to be the, I guess, spine of our little lean-to.”  
  
“Leave it to me,” Ryuji grinned. “I know all about wood.”  
  
“What are you, the wood expert?”  
  
“I’m the wood _master_.”  
  
“What does that even mean?”  
  
“Oh!” Ryuji stopped, jerking his head up the path. “Check it out!”  
  
There was a dam in the river up ahead- a surprisingly large and solidly-built structure. Ryuji went up and crouched on the river bank, admiring the construction from up close.  
  
“Lucky us, huh?” Ryuji grinned up at Shiho. “We got all the wood we need right here!”  
  
Shiho made a face. “Ryuji, we can’t. This is someone’s home.”  
  
“It’ll be fine,” Ryuji insisted. “Look, we need sticks. They’ve got sticks. And they’ve got a ton of sticks- this thing’s gotta be, like, six feet high. They’ll never miss it.”  
  
Shiho hesitated. “...Well… alright.”  
  
“Haha, yeah!” Ryuji started piling his arms with wood. “Eat the rich!”  
  
They trekked back to their campsite, arms laden with branches, and, under Shiho’s careful supervision, they started assembling their shelter. The frame of their makeshift tent was composed of three branches, the longest forming the spine of the frame, with the two shorter ones forming an arch. Ryuji wedged the three branches into the loamy earth while Shiho pulled a length of rope from her pack and tied them together.  
  
With the frame standing, they put up the walls, leaning their array of smaller sticks against the large central branch. The end result was a wooden cocoon that looked not unlike the wing cases of a beetle, with the wide, arched front tapering to the end. As a finishing touch, Shiho unfurled a tarp and lay it across the top of the hut, taping off the ends. Now, their little wooden shelter was ready in case of rain.  
  
Shiho stood back, swiping an arm across her brow. Ryuji sidled up beside her.  
  
“That doesn’t look half bad,” Ryuji said.  
  
“No, it doesn’t,” Shiho concurred.  
  
“Alright!” Ryuji clapped his hands together. “Bam. Shelter. Done. Wonder how Ann’s doin’.”  
  
~*~  
  
“Shiho’s got Ryuji doin’ some heavy lifting,” Ann said into her phone camera, the view bobbing with every step. “But I say, why _build_ a shelter when you can _find_ one? And check out what _I_ found!”  
  
Ann stood beneath the lip of a waterfall, silhouetted by the curtain of water. A small hollow in the cliff face stretched out around her, wet-slick and flickering with the strange, glittering glow of the setting sun through the cascading water. Ann panned her phone around before turning it back towards herself, beaming for the camera, her hair shining like a halo in the dusky half-light.   
  
“Cave behind the waterfall, baby! A classic! Sure, it might be a tight fit for three of us, and sure, it’s wet, but come on. How cool is this! This is, like, a bandit’s hideout or something! The only thing is, with all this water, it’s a little slipper- oh, whoa! No, no, no-”  
  
~*~  
  
“What’s up, Akira?” Ryuji grinned into the camera, before flipping the phone around and getting a shot of their new shelter. “Welcome to Camp Suzui! I’m borrowing Shiho’s phone right now ‘cuz my phone kinda… drowned. So, thanks Shiho! Shiho, what’cha got there?” ** _  
_**_  
_ Shiho looked up, hefting the bundle she’s carrying in her arms.  
  
“Well, I’ve got some leaves here, some grass…” She shook out a thermal survival blanket, one side lined in fleece, the other in reflective material. “...this nifty little dual-sided survival blanket. I’m gonna use this stuff to make a little layer of bedding on the floor of our shelter, here.”  
  
“Makin’ sure the three of us stay nice and cozy tonight, huh?”  
_  
_ Shiho giggled. “Well… the leaves aren’t the comfiest thing in the world. But it’s less about comfort and more about making a buffer between your body and the cold ground. No hypothermia for us!”  
  
“Haha, yeah!” Ryuji panned down, sticking his middle finger in front of the camera. “Fuck you, ground!”  
  
Ann appeared, grumpily plodding into camp and flopping down onto the grass, pouting like no tomorrow. She glanced up at the ongoing construction of Camp Suzui and huffed out a sigh. Shiho sidled up beside her, and Ann obligingly bonked her head into Shiho’s shoulder.  
  
“Are you okay?” Shiho wondered, whisper-quiet.  
  
“Yeah,” Ann murmured. She reached up and wrung the water out from one of her twin tails. “But I’m gonna need a new phone.”  
_  
__~*~_ _  
__  
_ Ann split Shiho’s hair into three sections, and began to weave. Shiho’s hair felt like spun silk, and was a welcome resting place for restless hands. Whenever Ann was bored, or stressed, or feeling glum, she’d always play with Shiho’s hair. It was a little thing, but it was the little things Shiho missed most, ever since she moved away.   
  
While Ann lamented their lack of a behind-the-waterfall hideout, and Shiho poked fun at both Ann and Ryuji managing to lose their phones, Ryuji had ventured back into the woods. He assumed the two of them were doing girly things- frolicking in the flowers, talking about their feelings, whatever. But Ryuji was a _man_ , and a man knows how to hunt.   
  
...Okay, Ryuji didn’t really know that much about hunting. But if there was anything Ryuji was good at, it was improvising. That, and taking his shirt off.   
  
“I gotta say,” Ryuji said into Shiho’s phone camera, sitting on the riverbank with a long branch across his knees. “Being shirtless in the woods? Really gets your blood going. I feel like I can take on the world.”  
  
A few flicks of Ryuji’s pocketknife, and the branch became a makeshift spear. Ryuji grinned.   
  
“Oh, yeah. These fish better watch the _fuck_ out! Let’s fuckin’ do this!”  
  
In the sunlight, Ryuji took on a gilded quality. He looked like an ancient hero, or a statue of one, sculpted in bronze. Ryuji hefted his spear-  
  
-and missed. Ryuji pulled back, watching the shadows beneath the surface of the water. He stabbed, and missed. And missed. And missed again.   
  
It seems Ryuji knew spearfishing about as well as he knew hunting- which is to say, not very well. Ryuji kept at it, his diligence warring with his own short temper, until he found himself plunging his spear into the water with both hands, shouting and seething with incoherent rage.   
  
“Ryuji?”  
  
Ryuji paused, his temper simmering beneath his skin. He swallowed hard.   
  
“...Walk away, Shiho.”  
  
“Ryuji,” Shiho continued, undeterred. “We, um… we got you something.”  
  
Ryuji pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath, counted to ten, and let it out slow. He turned, and saw Shiho offering him her pack.   
  
“We went foraging while you were away,” Shiho explained. “This region’s full of edible plants. Try some.”  
  
Ryuji pulled out a leafy green shoot and popped it into his mouth. He frowned, chewing thoughtfully.   
  
“Well?” Shiho asked, eager.   
  
“Well, uh…” Ryuji swallowed. “...it sure tastes _edible_.”  
  
~*~  
  
They sat together in camp, talking about the past year in Tokyo, about friends old and new. Shiho had missed so much while she was away, but this was what she’d missed the most: just being able to sit and talk, openly and honestly, with her closest friends. But the mood was muted, tense. Ann, from losing her phone. Ryuji, from losing his temper. And then there was Shiho, painfully aware that they came all this way just for her.   
  
“...We should probably start that fire,” Ryuji mused.   
  
Ann got up and started clearing a patch of bare dirt for their campfire, pointedly keeping it a safe distance away from their oh-so-flammable tent. Bundles of spare wood, sticks too small to form the walls of their hut, were piled up nearby.   
  
“Plenty of firewood, at least,” Ann said.   
  
“You’re welcome,” Ryuji called out.   
  
“Do you have the firestarter?” Ann asked.   
  
“ _No_ ,” Ryuji grumbled, kicking his waterlogged pack. “I lost it when I fell in the river.”  
  
Ann pinched the bridge of her nose. “Great. Amazing.”  
  
“I’m sorry, okay?” Ryuji huffed.   
  
“What are we supposed to do now?” Ann groaned.   
  
They exchanged glances, before turning to Shiho. Shiho swallowed, anxious. She pulled out her survival guide and started flipping through…  
  
~*~  
  
With a chemical firestarter, starting a campfire is as easy as chopping up a cube into a powder and lighting it with a spark from flint and steel. Without one… well, then you have to do it the hard way.  
  
“Making a friction fire isn’t easy,” Shiho was saying.  
  
“We’ll be fine,” Ann said. She flashed Shiho a reassuring smile, tying a length of rope to a curved bow of wood.  
  
“Alright,” Ryuji said, holding up a length of wood he’d cut so the end formed a rounded point. “I’ve got this little wooden crayon. Ann’s got her string thing. Let’s McFreakin’ do this.”  
  
Ryuji looped his stick through Ann’s rope and they braced it against a third piece of wood. Ann sawed her bow back and forth, drilling the wooden tip into the board below.  
  
The board grew warm to the touch, and the wood darkened around the edge of the spinning rod. But it didn’t catch.  
  
“Man…” Ann said, swiping an arm across her brow. “...this is a workout.”  
  
“Lemme give it a shot,” Ryuji said.  
  
Ryuji took the rod and bow from Ann, stepping on the board to brace it on the ground. Lining up the rod with the black scorch mark from earlier, Ryuji gave it his all- maybe a little too much.  
  
The bow snapped in Ryuji’s hands, and he bit out a curse, tossing aside the broken sticks in frustration.  
  
“Well, shit, Ryuji, don’t break the damn thing!” Ann snapped.  
  
“Man, shut up! You made the thing too weak!” Ryuji shot back.  
  
They glared at each other, with a fire in their eyes they couldn’t make in their hands. Then- a touch. The softest, gentlest touch, on either of their arms.  
  
Ann and Ryuji turned to Shiho, then back to each other. Ann exhaled, running a hand through her hair.  
  
“I’m sorry,” she said.  
  
“Yeah,” Ryuji nodded. “Lemme make you a new one.”  
  
Ryuji found another suitably curved stick, and strung a second bow. Ann looped the rod through the string, gritted her teeth, and tried again.  
  
The minutes ticked by. The sun dipped below the horizon, leaving only the glow through the trees- orange, then pink, then purple. Ann and Ryuji took turns trying to get their bow drill to form an ember with which they could light the rest of their kindling. Each time, they got tantalizingly close- but to no avail. Frustration hung heavy in the air.  
  
“This isn’t working!” Ann groaned. “Maybe if we had some drier wood…”  
  
“Hey, don’t give me that,” Ryuji warned.  
  
“You got this wood from a dam in the river! No wonder it isn’t dry enough to-”  
  
“Excuse me, the ground isn’t any drier! Maybe if-”  
  
“Stop. Stop!”  
  
Ann and Ryuji blinked. Shiho met their gaze, pleading.  
  
“I’m sorry… this is my fault,” Shiho said. “This region is known for its rain, and its fog… I should have known we’d have trouble starting a fire in this damp. I should have known better, so please, don’t…”  
  
The wind picked up and Shiho shivered, clutching her survival guide to her chest.  
  
Ann and Ryuji shared a look.  
  
Ann knelt by Shiho’s side, and pulled her into a hug. She looked up, meeting Ryuji’s eyes.  
  
“Come here.”  
  
“Huh?” Ryuji blinked, still holding the bow drill. “...But, the fire-”  
  
“Forget the fire,” Ann said. “Come here.”  
  
~*~  
  
They huddled together beneath the arch of their makeshift tent. In the cold, and the dark, their tent was warm- surprisingly so. Ann and Ryuji radiated heat, blazing like twin suns. Shiho lay curled up between them, her cheeks growing pink, with Ryuji’s bicep as a pillow and Ann’s arm around her waist.  
  
“So Shiho got the water, I made the shelter, you found us food…” Ryuji listed off.  
  
“And nobody could start a fire,” Ann finished. “So it’s a tie. So much for our bet.”  
  
“That’s lame,” Ryuji said. “A contest’s no fun without a winner.”  
  
Shiho said nothing, her eyes downcast. Ann and Ryuji exchanged worried glances. But then…  
  
“Hey,” Ann said, eyes wide. “Look at the sky.”  
  
The violet glow of evening faded into the velvet blue of night- and above the silhouettes of the trees, the stars came out.  
  
With no city lights to block them out, or even a campfire to dim their glow, the starry sky stretched out above them, boundless, beautiful. Ann gazed up into the heavens, the light glinting in her eyes. Ryuji whistled, long and low.  
  
“Damn,” Ryuji breathed. “You won’t get a view like that in Tokyo, that’s for sure.”  
  
Shiho sighed, gazing up into the night sky.   
  
“...I’m sorry, guys,” she murmured. “I wanted this trip to be perfect. But then you fell in the river, and you lost your phones, and now, we don’t even have a campfire.”  
  
“Hey, come on,” Ann said. “None of that’s your fault. Sometimes… shit just happens.”  
  
“I guess,” Shiho mused. She took Ann’s hand and squeezed. “You know, I thought we’d be able to pick up right where we left off. That the three of us would be just like we were in middle school. But so much has happened, and… we’re not who we were back then. Not anymore.”  
  
Ann nodded, tucking her chin over Shiho’s shoulder. Ryuji reached up and patted Shiho’s arm.   
  
“I dunno,” Ryuji said, grinning. “I think we turned out okay.”  
  
Shiho smiled, speaking up into the crisp night air. “...I’m glad you guys came to visit. I was worried, you know. There’s not a lot to do out in the country. We have one of those ‘we-sell-everything’ mega-stores, but aside from that, there’s not much to see.”  
  
“What are you talking about?” Ann asked. “ _You’re_ here.”  
  
“Ann!” Shiho squeaked. She burrowed her face into Ryuji’s shoulder, mortified.  
  
“That’s my line,” Ryuji grinned proudly. “I said the same thing to Akira when he moved out of Tokyo.”  
  
Ann snorted. “Gay.”  
  
“Oh, like you can talk.”  
  
Ann grinned, laying back and gazing up at the stars. She’d read, somewhere, that love wasn’t about gazing into each other’s eyes, but gazing together in the same direction. Well, at the moment, all three of them were looking up into the boundless sky.  
  
It sure was a hell of a view.  
  
“Hey,” Ann whispered, like a prayer.  
  
“Yeah?” Shiho and Ryuji chorused back.  
  
“...You know I love you guys, right?”  
  
A pause. Then:  
  
“Um. Obviously?” Ryuji grinned.  
  
“How could we not?” Shiho giggled.  
  
Ann squirmed, embarrassed by her own sentimentality. “Look, I don’t know-”  
  
“Ann, you’re literally spooning Shiho right now,” Ryuji cut in. “I think she feels the love.”  
  
“I certainly feel something,” Shiho teased.  
  
“Shut up! Shut up!” Ann groaned. “Whatever! I just want to _say_ it, okay?”  
  
They laughed together, their tent brimming with warmth despite it all. They had no campfire, no phones, scarcely any dry clothes, barely any food, and even their water still had the chemical tang the purification tablets left behind. But they had a tent, a blanket, a sky full of stars, and each other.   
  
It wasn’t paradise. But it was home.  
  
~*~


End file.
